Wednesday, February 25, 2015

LaRock Voucher Bill Defeated, Howell Teacher Turnover Study Passes

In what was
an incredible day, VEA and VSBA worked together to deliver key votes to defeat Delegate
Dave Larocks’s HB2238, a voucher bill to shift public school funding to home
and private schools (see yesterday’s post).

As the day
started, we feared the NAACP’s position in support of the bill threatened our
efforts to defeat the bill.With help
from Senator McEachin’s office and heavy lifting from Senator Locke, the NAACP
changed their position to one of opposition.We thank the NAACP for taking another look at the bill.

On the floor
Senators Petersen, Favola and Locke spoke against the bill.The bill’s champions were Senators Garrett,
Obenshain, Stuart, Black and Martin.

When the
votes were on the board, it stood 18-18 (see below).Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam cast the tie breaking vote against the
bill and it failed.

Take a look
at the vote below.Senator Puller was
not present for health reasons.Note
that those Republicans who "took a walk" helped us.